By James Barber
It’s been almost two years since “Space Force” ended in chaos. That’s season one of the television “Space Force” on Netflix, not the actual military branch (although things aren’t exactly humming along on the real-life side, either).
In the fictional “Space Force” universe, American astronauts were stranded on the moon after a showdown with the Chinese, and Gen. Mark Naird (Steve Carell) faced a possible court-martial for refusing to order his space guardians to gear up for a moon attack.
Netflix ordered a second season, and the new episodes will premiere on Feb. 18, 2022. A new trailer suggests that Naird is getting a second chance to run Space Force and somehow found a way to patch things up with China and get the astronauts back to Earth.
“Space Force” represents a reunion between Carell and Greg Daniels, the producer who created the American version of “The Office.” Daniels also created “King of the Hill” and “Parks and Recreation,” so audiences had high hopes for “Space Force” in 2020. The first season didn’t quite live up to expectations, but they’re back with another run to try to get things right.
There’s a lot of talent on the show, which co-stars returning actors John Malkovich (“Burn After Reading”), Lisa Kudrow (“Friends”), Ben Schwartz (“Sonic the Hedgehog”), Jimmy O. Yang (“Silicon Valley”), Aparna Nancherla (“Crashing”) and Don Lake (“Best in Show”). Season two adds Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille”), Tim Meadows (“The Ladies Man”) and the hilarious standup Chris Gethard.
Daniels admitted in an interview with Collider, an entertainment website, that the team set out to correct flaws from the first season. The original idea was to make the series look like a movie, and setups were complicated and discouraged the kind of comic improvisation that makes Daniels’ other shows so successful. They also hired seasoned comedy director Ken Kwapis to oversee the entire season. Kwapis directed some of the best-loved episodes of “The Office,” and his credits include “Freaks and Geeks,” “The Larry Sanders Show” and the feature film “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
Will “Space Force” find its way in season 2? There’s a lot of talent on its team, but that talent didn’t have a clearly defined mission the first time around, sort of like the guardians over at the real Space Force. America’s waiting to be convinced. Fake “Space Force” gets its shot in just a few weeks.
